Oracle bones like this one are about 3500 years old. They proved the existence of the Shang dynasty. Most of the bones were discovered in the Shang city of Yinxu, near modern-day Anyang.

They date from the late Shang Dynasty, (circa 1250 B.C. to circa ... Many of the roughly 5,000 characters in the "oracle bone script" are still used in modern Chinese (some versions of Chinese ...

Narrator: One of the most exciting objects or artefacts we have from the Shang Dynasty are oracle bones. They are animal bones covered in ancient writing and were used to try to predict the future.

The earliest writings in China were found on ox scapulae, tortoiseshells, and bronzes during the Shang dynasty. Dated from around 1400-1200 B.C.E, the inscriptions on bones and shells-called "oracle ...